Ex-Wild coach Richards named assistant for Team USA

Blog Post by: Howard Sinker

July 23, 2013 - 9:05 AM

It didn't work out with him for the Wild, but Todd Richards is getting his pro coaching legs in the National Hockey League. The Columbus head coach has been named an assistant for the U.S. Olympic hockey team that will compete in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Olympic head coach Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the team's head coach. Bylsma and Richards were coaches together in the Penguins organizations from 2006-08, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Richards was named coach of the Blue Jackets midway through the 2011-12 season.

Richards, a former University of Minnesota skater from Crystal, coached the Wild in the 2009 and 2010 seasons before being replaced by Mike Yeo. He was an assistant on the U.S. team that played in the 2010 World Championships.

Selections for the 2014 team will begin next month when invited players meet for an orientation camp in Virginia. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are the Wild players who have been invited, and Michael Russo listed the Minnesotans invited on his Russo's Rants blog.